


Falling in a Forest

by Delibirdette



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, Faun!David, Fauns & Satyrs, Hunter!Gwen, Hunters & Hunting, It's hunting season... and gwen is on the hunt for LOVE
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-01-30 06:23:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12647922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delibirdette/pseuds/Delibirdette
Summary: When Gwen started working for Cameron Campbell's shady hunting business, she never expected to be finding mythological creatures in her traps, much less tall ones with deep red hair, bright green eyes, and the pure sunshine-y optimism of a child.





	1. Chapter 1

“Thank you for stepping in on such short notice, Gretchen.”

“It’s… _Gwen_ , actually—”

“Yes, Glenn! That’s what I said. Don’t know what I would have done without ya, seeing as though my last employee… well, let’s just say his body might be a little ‘off the radar’ at the moment. That’s the _last_ time I trust a man with nothing but an army knife to ward off government officials from Thailand.”

Gwen crossed her arms and sighed. Of all the things her hell-hole of a life contained, she never expected being paid to live in Sleepy Peak and hunting forest animals to be one of them. This hadn’t been the plan, but when you’re 24 years old and dual-majored in Liberal Arts and Psychology, you take whatever jobs you can get. Even ones that have totally different skill sets from what you were initially trained for. Whatever. The man in front of her didn’t really seem to mind, considering he didn’t even put her through any interviews or tests to see if she was even qualified for the position of killing small creatures.

The man in question, Cameron Campbell, was a burly man with a booming voice and was rather intimidating up close. He seemed like a real forest dwelling kind of guy, with cocky confidence oozing out of every orifice in his body. Gwen hated him already. But she couldn’t just tell him that—he was her new boss, after all.

“Well, let’s get right into it then,” Campbell said, unlocking a huge, well-protected cabinet and quickly perusing the array of rifle options before him. He chose one of the smaller guns as well as a couple packs of ammunition and tossed them over to Gwen, who scrambled to catch them. “Let’s head out. I’ll show you where your cabin and the traps are. Then, you start first thing tomorrow morning.”

* * *

 

“Gooooooood morning, birds!! Morning bees! Hello squirrels and _hellooo_ trees!”

It was just another beautiful day in the forest. The sun was just beginning to peak up from the lush, hydrated green of the pine forest, the scene now growing lighter and warmer beneath its gaze. With the sun, the forest began to stir with life. The birds, the squirrels, the bees – before long, the forest was alive and humming its usual happy tune. And with them, a chipper young faun couldn’t help but hum along—or yell out his excited and bubbly greetings to the dew- and pine-scented world around him.

David was a tall faun, rather thin for his age. He stood out among the dark greens of the forest with fiery red hair that stuck up in an untamed cowlick on his head. He had curly fur covering his deer-like bottom half to match. His hooves made a gentle sound against the grassy forest floor as he cantered through the clearing, making his normal morning rounds to greet his woodland neighbors.

“Who’s ready for another fun-filled fantastic summer day?! I know I am! It’s going to be full of all sorts of excitement and adventure and—oh—?”

He stopped his annoyingly cheesy speech abruptly as something out of the ordinary caught his eye. His stubby, white-speckled tail and long ears perked upward on high alert as he scanned the nearby area, frozen in place. His pale green eyes held a look of childlike wonder in their gaze as he looked around wide-eyed. He could have sworn he saw something just then… something out there in the bushes…

But after a few minutes of silence, David relaxed once more, registering the encounter as a small forest creature making its way to find breakfast. That’s what it normally was, after all. Shrugging, David began to hop about once more, heading in the direction of the river, talking loudly to himself as he went, “Well, false alarm! These forests are all so safe, I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about—”

_FWIP!_

In one slick movement, gravity flipped on itself and the world turned upside down!! – wait, no, that’s not it—rather, it was _David_ that flipped upside down! Something had caught a hold of his hooves, which were now held tightly together and holding him suspended in the air. Letting out a shocked squeak, the faun looked up at the force that held him there – a rope, it looked like – and he tried to move and wriggle his way out of it. No luck.

He tried this for a few more minutes, but realizing how unsuccessful these attempts were, he let out a defeated sigh and went limp, groaning out as if it was a minor inconvenience rather than an actual threat to his life.

“Aww, rats…”

* * *

 

So, life had truly gone to shit, huh?

The morning sun blasted in through the windows of the run-down log cabin, landing directly into Gwen’s eyes like a stab to the retinas. She cursed aloud the fact that curtains must not existed when they put this heap of logs together and rolled over, before finally forcing herself out of bed. Walking into the bathroom to begin her day, she saw her disheveled reflection glare back at her.

A few weeks had passed since she began working for Campbell, and she had fallen into somewhat of a routine. It wasn’t the worst thing ever, but she was definitely starting to miss civilization. Shit was kind of boring out here when it was just her and all the vermin she was instructed to kill and bring back to her boss. And for fuck’s sake, it’s 2017, a woman needed basic plumbing and Wi-Fi!

Brushing her hair back into a ponytail and brushing her teeth, it was time to go check on the traps. She grabbed her knife and tucked it securely into her boot, picking up her backpack. As much as she appreciated Campbell's offer of his rifles, she found it really wasn't her style and settled on doing things the old-fashioned way. On her way out, she also grabbed a small bottle and tipped some pills into her palm before swallowing them dry. Heading out into the unforgiving world, she was at least fortunate enough to find it was a nice day out.

Hiking through the forest wasn’t necessarily bad, if she disregarded the sharp nettle and branches that caught in her hair as she went, or the muddy terrain that came about after a particularly harsh rainfall. The worst part was the fact that out of the twelve traps scattered along the area that Gwen is in charge of laying out every day, only maybe four or five end up snagging something. These statistics didn’t lead to a happy Gwen, or a happy Mr. Campbell for that matter—and oftentimes it meant no fed Gwen, either. That meant then she had to go out and shoot game with her rifle, and if she was being honest, she was an awful shot at that, too.

But she was going to find that this day was going to be a tad different compared to her normal hunting days. As she made her way through a clearing, she thought she heard rustling, followed by a voice on the other side of the bushes.

“Aww, rats…”

She tripped to a stop, abruptly turning her head in the direction of the sound. It wasn’t often she heard other people up here in the wilderness. Maybe it was a solidary camper or a scout who lost his troop. Gwen peered into the bushes, only to see… red? Red fur?

Instinctively, Gwen held up her knife, holding it steady and ready to defend herself. She swiftly pushed through the pines, examining what was in front of her. Her eyes grew wide.

“No _fucking_ way!”

The swiftness of her movements and the exclaim of disbelief caused the creature in question to let out a girly scream, and he attempted to cower in fear despite being suspended by ropes and unable to get away. He swung about, the rope causing him to sway back and forth due to his frenzy.

Eventually after the creature calmed down and the rope stopped swinging, he peered up at Gwen with big, green eyes. They suddenly seemed to light up with something more like excitement. His ears perked at attention. “A _human?!_ ” he exclaimed aloud.

Gwen was too shocked to respond further. Neglecting her knife and letting it fall to the grassy pasture below, she stared at the sight in front of her unmoving. It looked like… a deer… man… thing. With fiery red hair and deer legs and the sweetest human face. Her eyes scanned him up and down, taking particular interest in where fleshy skin transitioned to a coat of speckled fur. And the small white horns sprouting from his head.

There was no way this was real. She had to be dreaming. This was all a dream, or else she had just somehow stumbled in some sort of fairy tale land. What was going on?

“Hello! Good morning!” He greeted her excitedly, smiling in a relieved sort of way as he attempted to wave, “You’re a new face around here, but most certainly not unwelcomed! In fact, your timing is _impeccable,_ it could not have been better!”

Gwen only stared at him, unable to process what she was seeing in front of her. _He talks. He can talk. What is this, some kind of fucked up prank?!_

She scrambled for her knife, picking it up off the ground and trying to keep a firm grasp on it although her hands were shaking. Finally, she took a deep breath, forcing herself to find words as she carefully aimed the knife in his direction, taking a few steps forward.

“This isn’t a joke, is it?” She began, voice almost as shaky as her hands, “You’re not just. This. This isn’t—” _Get your anxiety in check, Gwen, get it together!_ “I mean… uh. Who are you? _WHAT_ are you?”

If he was feeling threatened by the sharp object in Gwen’s hands, he didn’t show it. Rather, it was obvious he didn’t even notice it there. He smiled slightly despite the obvious confusion on his face.

 “Listen, uh… I’d hate to trouble you, but I’m a bit stuck— could you please help me down?” The creature wriggled his legs and deer-hips to emphasize his current situation, now growing a little more antsy to be free of the bond, allowing the rope to swing him around once again. The knot around his legs held tight, and he was starting to lose feeling at his ankles.

 “Um. Okay. Uh,” With a beat of hesitation, Gwen looked up at the knot that was holding the faun so secure in place. She reached up haphazardly and sawed at the rope, frankly at a loss for words. At least she knew this trap worked now.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the rope broke with a loud snap, and the deer man let out a yelp as he fell and crumpled face-down onto the forest floor. As he fell, Gwen took several hasty steps back, holding the knife closer to her chest as she watched the creature flail about on the ground. His rebound was amazing quick, however, as he hopped up with an air of happiness as if nothing happened. His face was a little dirtied though, and a twig or two might have become embedded in his wild hair.

“Oh, thank you so much!” His arms shot out in some joyful display, beaming bright and seemingly unbothered by the previous events. Gwen noticed him shift slightly as he tested out his ankles which now was showing signs of bruising, but he pretended to ignore it as he hopped around heartily.

He ran around the clearing in triumph, and at first Gwen thought he was about to run away, until he stopped directly in front of her, perhaps a little too close. Maybe he was considering going in for a hug, if it hadn’t been for the giant knife in between them. Instead, he settled on extending a hand, eyeing the human expectantly.

“Ah! Where _are_ my manners! My name is David, and thank you so much for rescuing me! I have no idea who would put something like that there, but they should really be careful, they could seriously hurt someone with that! Not that it matters anymore, I suppose!”

…Christ, was he talkative. Talkative and a little bit stupid. Perhaps it was for the best nobody ever tells this deer man the truth behind that trap.

Gwen looked at the rope that now lay on the ground in two pieces, then down to her knife. She realized then that she may end up regretting the decision to let him go—a creature as rare as him might sell really well. Maybe Campbell would finally appreciate her efforts. She could be famous and her picture put on the front cover of some trashy news magazines—

She looked up at David, a little lost in thought. No, there was… something about him that, even if she hadn’t just let him go, she would not have been able to bring herself to kill him, or even disable him. Maybe it was that childlike look of wonder in his eyes, or his energetic personality, or those cute little freckles on his face…

Noticing how quiet the human had gotten, David took a step back, wondering if maybe he overstepped some boundaries. “What’s wrong?” He asked, cocking his head to the side. To add to the weird deer-man hybrid thing he was, he now held an expression similar to that of a curious kitten. “You act like you’ve never seen a faun before!”

“Ah… no, I… haven’t, actually.” Gwen said with a sigh, lowering the knife so it now rested in her hand by her side. “In fact, I’m not absolutely sure this is happening. A- are you real?”

David eyed her quizzically. “I mean… last I checked?” He looked down at his hands, then looked down and kicked his legs. His tail waggled lazily and his ears perked once again while raising his hands to touch his stubby antlers. Gwen watched in amazement as he did so, and when he caught her staring he smiled, leaning forward a little. “Would you be more convinced if you checked, too? You’re welcome to touch them if you’d like!”

Gwen almost gave in to the offer, hand moving up to touch and play with his hair, before she realized what she was about to do and stopped herself. She didn’t need to be touching dirty wildlife – he probably had fleas or something.

“Um… I’m good, thanks. I’m Gwen, by the way. I’m sorry if I seem off… it’s just… yeah.”

David straightened up once more, realizing he wasn’t about to be pet by this strange human. That was okay, he understood that she was probably more than a little shy. He smiled at her. “Gwen. That’s a nice name. I like it.”

“Thanks. Um, I’ve heard about you—your kind, I mean— in stories before,” Gwen went on, “but I… didn’t think they actually existed. I thought they were just made up mythological creatures.”

“Oh, that’s okay,” David assured, standing even more upright with a flash of pride. “I have never seen a real-life human before, either! I’ve heard so much about humans from the forest creatures, but I’ve never gotten to see one until now!”

“Huh.” Gwen hummed in acknowledgement, and to her dismay the chatterbox continued on,

“You… look a lot like me, except for the deer legs! And… well, much prettier, of course.”

“…Th- thanks.” Gwen shuffled a bit, biting the inside of her cheek. Did this mythical deer man just try to hit on her? And why did it almost - kind of - absolutely cause her to get all flustered? Was she _really_ that damn desperate?!

David didn’t seem to notice her face get pink and carried on his blabbering conversation. Man, did he never shut up? “Now, uh, would you like me to show you around a little bit? I know this place pretty well, I could show you all kinds of things nearby!”

Even though she had been living here for about two weeks now, she couldn’t help but take him up on that offer. She gave a bit of a resigned nod, and with that minimal sign of affirmation the faun gestured in a direction and started to take off, his hooves making loud thumps as he bounded across the forest clearing and into the bushes.

“Follow me, I’ll show you to the river!”

Gwen let out a soft sigh. Retracting her knife back in to her boot, she rubbed at her temples as she began to follow the sound of happy hooves and excited faun-hollering.

What a hell of a way to start the day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Gwen and David learn a little bit more about each other, Gwen begins to worry she might be getting attached. Will this newfound connection get in the way of her job as a hunter?

So far, other than how batshit crazy weird this whole faun thing was, the day wasn’t turning out to be half bad for Gwen.

Sure, the mythological faun boy was not expected, and perhaps he was a little on the annoying side, but he was shaping up to be a rather good help showing her around and introducing her to important landmarks on their way to the creek to help with her sense of direction and familiarity with the place.

_This is your new home now,_ David had said earlier on their trek up the mountainside, _And I want you to feel right at home with the rest of the creatures that live here!_

So… yeah, David was kind of a big help. And very sweet, too. Maybe if he could stop staring at her like she had three heads, though, that would be great.

She caught him looking at her as their eyes met, and she squinted at him with suspicion. “What are you looking at?” She asked, wincing at herself for how gruff she sounded.

David’s head snapped to face forward, turning his attention back to the path. His whole body washed red with shame. “S—sorry, it’s nothing.”

She let out a small snort, an “I know it was something but I don’t care enough to press” type of snort, and the two of them kept walking. The sound of running water was growing louder now, and then…

“Ah, we’re here!”

The faun hopped ahead towards a patch of undergrowth, cutting through the bushes and revealing the calm creek running steadily by.

Gwen looked around, oddly struck by the charm of the little grove—it was lush and green and had rather nice shade. She was never really much of a nature enthusiast, but she had to admit this forest was certainly not the grossest she’d seen.

“It’s… cute.” She offered.

David hummed, seemingly pleased with this comment. “That it is! I spend most of my time in the afternoons here, playing guitar and singing along with the birds.”

Gwen couldn’t help but be interested in that. “Wait. You… you _play guitar_?”

“Mhm!!!” That seemed to set off a new spark of excitement in the faun, and Gwen could see it in the way his body tensed with coiled-up energy and the new twinkle in his deep green eyes. “Here, let me show you!”

Shit, this was bad. She didn’t want this. “Oh, no, that’s quite alri—”

But it was too late. Before Gwen could finish her protest, the deer man was already darting off into the bushes on the the other side of the creek, retrieving his instrument. When he returned he held what was most definitely a small guitar, looking rather well kept despite how it is kept out in the middle of nature. There were a couple dings and scratches on its dark, polished-wood surface, but considering the way David cradled it so carefully in his arms as if it was his own child as he hopped back over to her, Gwen was pretty convinced those weren’t caused by him. The previous owner maybe?

The redhead plopped himself down on a rock, smiling up at the human as he held the guitar to his chest. “Please, dear Gwen, please sit! You’ve been standing far too long.”

Gwen looked around for a nearby rock smooth enough to sit on. “If I sit down, can I be spared from your singing?”

David plucked a few strings absentmindedly, still staring up at Gwen with a goofy grin. “No.” He replied simply.

With a defeated sigh, the girl sat down, holding her chin in her hands as she looked at the faun boy. “Let’s hear it, then.” She said, less than amused.

But that was all David needed to hear to get his mini-concert going. With a few bars of an intro buzzing along at a tempo Gwen would have struggled to keep up with, the faun-man was singing a song she had never heard before—perhaps he wrote it himself?

“There’s a place I know that’s tucked away  
A place where you and I can stay  
Where we can learn to laugh and play  
And have adventures every day…”

While Gwen sat and listened politely, she glanced over as she heard rustling and splashing by the creek, shocked to discover more animals were popping up. Mice and squirrels darted out by her feet, making her bring her legs up and curling up into herself protectively. Her eyes widened as she saw a few deer on the other side of the water, and… was it just her, or were the fish in the creek now more massive in number?

And worst of all: David hadn’t been kidding when he had mentioned he sang _along_ with the birds, because they were perching themselves on the branches above the both of them and even harmonizing somehow with the guitar. Great. Singing birds. Singing deer… man… thing. Gwen had seen this in movies before, and immediately felt the urge to pinch herself and make sure she wasn’t just dreaming. Again.

This guy was a real-life Disney princess. And a pretty damn good singer. It was too much. She had about as much as she could take of this.

 “I know it sounds hard to believe, but guys and gals it’s true  
This forest is a home for me and y—”

 “OH-KAY…!” Gwen stood up abruptly, causing the oddly enchanting display to all come to a screeching halt. The forest animals that had gathered were spooked and ran off back to wherever they came from, the disrupted birds flying away with loud squawks of protest. David was thrown off as well and hit a sour chord before bringing his little guitar back to his chest as if she was going to take it away from him. “Listen, that was really good and all, but the wild animal thing was a little much, don’t you think, Snow White?”

“Sn… Snow White?” The reference was lost on those bright green eyes, which looked at her quizzically.

“Never mind,” Gwen waved the thought away, unable to look him in the eye. “I… I need to get going. It’s gonna get dark soon, and I don’t have any food to bring back to my cabin, and…”

David sat his instrument down gently and bounced back up onto his feet. If he was still sad about his performance being trashed, there wasn’t any sign of it. Man, this dude recovered quickly.

He hurried over to grab Gwen’s hands, as if worried she was about to run from him. “If food is your concern, you needn’t worry, Gwen! I know where you can find some berries around here. It isn’t far.”

“Oh, no, that’s not…”

“Don’t worry, there’s plenty, you can take as many as you need. The forest is very giving to those under her care, I’m sure she will make accommodations for you as well.”

Oof. Shit. How do you tell a fairytale creature that what you’re really trying to find is a way to kill and eat one of his forest friends? Even so… knowing where there is a berry supply would be nice, and perhaps beneficial later down the road.

Gwen sighed, before flashing David a slight smile. “Sure. I think that would be lovely. Which way is it?”

“This way, follow me!”

Without skipping a beat (Gwen was convinced he never did), David was off in the direction the creek was running. Gwen looked over to the other side of the water, where she had seen a few deer poke out during the little Disney-style singing session. If she hurried, maybe she could go and cut some of them down with her knife. Drag them back to her base without the faun even looking back and realizing she had left. Not to mention check on all those other traps that she hadn’t yet cleaned out. Campbell would much prefer deer hide over blueberries he could purchase at the grocery store.

“Gwen? Are you coming?” Came a faint voice a few paces away, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Maybe it would be better off to play along with the silly deer man and get some fruit first.

Looking back over to where the smiling redheaded creature was, she smiled softly at him and began to trek onward, ready to find this berry grove.

Maybe another time. Right now, she had a faun to follow.

* * *

Today was his lucky day – and David could not have been more ecstatic about that. To think, a _real_ human in his forest! He had heard so much about them in stories from the other wildlife, but he had never gotten to see one in person.

He reflected on all the warnings and aids of caution he had received about humans over the years. Humans were believed to be extremely scary and ruthless creatures, who set whole forests on fire and ate whatever their paws could snatch—which included forest animals such as himself. But he didn’t believe a word of it! He couldn’t fathom how humans could be that evil—of course they had to be good and these were just silly lies that spread to make woodland creatures afraid of the unknown.

Humans were nice! They had to be good! And this human in particular was absolutely, _definitely_ not here to stab him and prepare him into a nice meal! That’d be absolutely ridiculous! – And besides, how could a creature _this_ pretty be anything but wholeheartedly good?

David couldn’t help but look back at Gwen off and on during the day, doing double and triple takes to just admire her appearance, looking at her as if she was truly a treasure to behold. She had darker skin and long dark hair that had been pulled up out of her face, and her eyes were the prettiest and most unique shade of purple David had ever seen… they reminded him of lilacs.

Those eyes he was growing to love so much looked up directly at him, causing his heart to choke him in his throat. They glimmered with something like irritation.

“What?”

“…What’s what?”

“You’re staring at me again!”

David felt his face go red and he looked down, mentally punishing himself for being so rude. He was quickly discovering that, despite how impolite it may have been, he couldn’t help himself sometimes.

“I’m just… wondering how you like the meal? You haven’t really said much since we sat down and started eating.”

Well… that much was true. After he had introduced Gwen to the wonderful blueberry bushes, they had both started picking them and putting them in one of her handy little pouches. Then the both of them agreed to have a little picnic party—well, truthfully, Gwen was hungry and David invited himself to eat with her. To go with the berries, David had picked some mushrooms and herbs, and Gwen had caught a fish for the both of them to cook over a small fire.

The sun was beginning to set, and the warm colors of the sky and the yellow glow from the fire looked good on Gwen as she looked down calmly at her fish and berry wood-plate.

“It’s… not bad, actually. Probably the best meal I’ve had since I’ve moved up here.”

“Oh, how wonderful! I’m so glad I’ve helped open you up to what nature provides here.”

Gwen smiled, but her eyes held no real mirth. David wondered why they never did. “Sure, I guess you could say that.”

Leaning back on his hands, the faun looked up at the sky with a hum. “Say, Gwen, what made you decide to move here in the first place? And all by yourself, at that?”

Gwen seemed hesitant to answer that. Again, David asked himself why she was so cautious with her responses. “Well… honestly? I did it for a job.”

“A… job.” He repeated. That wasn’t a word he’d really heard before.

“Yeah.”

She offered no further explanation or comment. Maybe she didn’t want to talk about it.

“Well, in any case,” David went on, looking back at her and giving her a big, bright smile, “I’m glad it led for us to meet. I’ve had a really wonderful time with you today, Gwen, and I hope you feel the same.”

“It was definitely not how I expected today to go,” she said, humor in her voice. “It isn’t every day you run into a man with deer legs.”

David laughed and extended one of his legs to aid in proving her point. “I suppose you’re right. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think I’ve met another one of my kind yet, either.”

“Wait, really?” That got her attention. “There isn’t like, a whole tribe of you out here or something?”

David shook his head. “Nope! Just me!”

“You must get lonely up here by yourself, then.”

That… was very true. He didn’t allow himself to think about it very often, but when Gwen put those feelings out there in such simple words, he couldn’t deny that was the truth. He hardly had anyone to talk to, and relied a lot on the creatures that lived here with him to keep him entertained, but they didn’t always make the most stimulating company. He would give up a lot of things to have someone around… which was maybe why he was so excited to have met Gwen.

But instead of voicing this thought, he shrugged. “It isn’t too bad. I have the birds and the deer to talk to!”

Gwen quirked a brow. “And… what about the winter, when the birds are gone and the other animals are hibernating?”

“I…” David didn’t know what to say to that. Seems like he didn’t have to, because Gwen gave him a knowing look.

Not only was Gwen pretty, but she was also incredibly sharp.

“Don’t worry. I get it. I’m right there with ya. Why else do you think I was able to come up here at the drop of a hat? Because nobody would have realized I was gone.”

David wasn’t sure he liked how she worded that. “Hey, I’m sure that’s not true! I would have noticed if you left.”

“Well, that might just be because you’re… you…”

While he waited for her to finish her sentence, Gwen seemed to stop in her tracks. Curious, now, the faun urged her to finish. “I… what?”

The human’s face flushed pink and she looked away. The embarrassed expression looked… kind of good on her. “Never mind, it’s nothing.”

David leaned forward, grabbing her shoulders with urgency. “No, you were going to call me something! I wanna know what you were going to say! I have to know!”

But Gwen was just as stubborn as she was beautiful, and she refused to open up. Instead, she shot up off the grassy ground, knocking David off of her in the process. “It’s getting kind of late, don’t you think? We should probably… well, at least _I_ need to be heading back to my cabin.”

David pulled a kicked-puppy face, but allowed her to change the subject. She was right, anyway. “Yeah… I should go prepare everything for nightfall, too. Can I at least escort you back to your cabin?”

_Shhhink_

There was an unsheathing sound as Gwen pulled out her knife, looking the faun in the eye with a confident smirk. “Like hell you are. I can get back by myself just fine. No deer man needed, thanks.”

“Oh… alright.” He smiled at her, taking a step back as he was still a little wary of that knife. “Why do you carry that thing around, anyway?”

Gwen looked at him for a moment before shrugging. “For the same reason you felt the need to escort me home. Would you rather I carry around a gun? I have one of those as well.”

David shivered. He didn’t like guns at all. “No, no guns, thanks. They terrorize the… the birds.”

Gwen couldn’t help but smile teasingly at that. She took a step forward, making the already on-edge faun double back a little bit, intimidated. “Aww, is Mister Brave Manly Escort scared of guns?”

“No! I… uh…” He looked around, searching for a physical means of escaping a verbal confrontation. “I just don’t like the sounds they make.”

“It’s a lot like thunder.” Gwen put her free hand on her hip, now intrigued. “You can handle thunder, can’t you?”

David’s lack of an answer was all Gwen needed to know to have her laughing at him.

“Wait, _seriously?_ A mythological fairytale creature is afraid of thunderstorms?!”

Looking embarrassed now, the faun’s ears drooped low in shame as she laughed, and his face matched the colors of the sunset-painted sky. “It’s… it’s not funny, Gwen! Thunder is serious business!”

Rolling her eyes, Gwen ruffled the fluffy tufts of hair, not unlike how a mother would play with a child’s. “Alright, alright. But I think that settles it—you aren’t really qualified to be my escort. If anything, it sounds like it’s _me_ who needs to be looking after _you_.”

David had nothing else to say to that. He supposed it was fair. “I just offered in case you… you know, were feeling a little lonely on the way back.”

There was a brief second of silence, and when David looked up at the human, she looked a little touched. Then she smiled warmly and retracted her hand from his head.

“Don’t worry about me, David, I can handle this. This isn’t my first night out here in the woods.”

And with that, she headed in the direction of her little hut, but not before getting stopped one last time by a frantic David. He had something to say. Something important.

“Oh—uh, Gwen?” He hollered to her.

“Yeah?” He could just barely make out her face in the fading light. Seeing her face like that made him forget originally what he was going to say.

“Thanks again for today. I had a lot of fun.”

“…Yeah, me too.”

From this distance, he couldn’t tell if she had rolled her eyes at him or not. But there was a little bit of a smile in her voice, so that counted for something.

He enjoyed making her smile.

After her figure disappeared over the hill, David got to work putting out the fire. He then headed to his own little home in the woods, an extra spring in his hooved step as he went, humming cheerily the whole way.

* * *

Gwen laid down in bed, sprawling herself out on the uncomfortable mattress and letting out a soft breath. She still wasn’t quite convinced what she saw today was real—a man that came straight out of one of her childhood fairytale books who smiled like the literal sun and had a voice that made the forest animals sing with him? If she told anyone about this encounter, they would have asked for whatever hallucinatory drug she was on.

She kind of wished that that had been the case. Maybe she could make a lot of money, being a drug dealer hiding up in the woods selling some unclassified drug she found in the caves that made fairytales come to life. It’d be a lot better than what she was doing currently.

Which got her thinking… would she have to come clean to Campbell about this whole faun thing? She had a feeling that if he knew about David’s existence, it wouldn’t end well for either of them at all. And what if David himself were to find out about this whole sketchy poaching business?... Gwen felt her heart sink in her chest at the thought of him seeing one of his squirrel friends stuck in one of her traps, or if he were to come on by her house and see a deer hide on the floor…

Maybe it would be for the best for her to get it done with and kill the thing. That way she wouldn’t have to prolong the betrayal long enough for her to actually grow attached to him. But even then… the idea of hurting such a rare and precious creature felt so taboo, she wasn’t sure she could make herself do it. She had the chance once before and didn’t take it—it would only be harder a second time, now that she’d gotten to know him.

Gwen rolled over and put a pillow over her ears, as if that was going to put an end to her never-ceasing thoughts and “what if”s.

He was going to find out about her motives sooner or later. And she was beginning to dread the hour where she’d have to break his heart with the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, thank you so much for reading, and merry Christmas to those readers who celebrate it! I can't ever promise having a consistent update schedule with any of my fics, but leaving comments and kudos might boost my inspiration to finish the next chapter faster, so please leave your thoughts if you enjoyed! (:

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading! More to come soon~ Please leave comments and tell me what you think so far!


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